On reflection, it was a classic bluff by the BBC. After a hardly subtle two-year campaign to build the profile of Radio 1's shooting star Greg James, who told the Guardian just two months ago that "if you don't want the breakfast show, you're an idiot", the news of Chris Moyles's abdication was followed today by the announcement that his successor would not be James at all. Instead, the job has gone to elaborately quiffed, hipster-friendly evening-show presenter Nick Grimshaw.

It's not an appointment without risks. Grimshaw is known to many as a face papped alongside Agyness Deyn, or the Geldof sisters, or Kelly Osbourne, and close attention will be paid to his social life. A 4am start is tough for anyone; it's tougher still when you roll in from a night out at, well, 4am. So that will need to stop. And even if Grimshaw proves a long-term success, listening figures will likely dip in the short term, a necessary sacrifice as Moyles's loyal listeners follow him to his next exciting challenge.

But those listeners need to go for Radio 1 to do its job properly, and Grimshaw's appointment is a strong move in its ongoing battle to lower the average age of its listeners from 32, where it currently stands, to the 15- to 29-year-old audience the station has herniated itself attempting to court over the past six years. The breakfast show is traditionally the slot that dictates a station's personality, and picking Grimshaw is a smart bit of repositioning. Nobody like Grimshaw would be employed by Capital, for instance, where current breakfast hosts Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon engage in a desperate, doomed attempt to create weekday morning party vibez, which results in something more in line with Abigail's Party in an airlock.

Crucially, while Grimshaw's patter is fizzy and breathless, his warm and funny presentational style rises above the drivel proffered by most youth-friendly DJs. He's also passionate and knowledgable about music. While it remains to be seen how much of this passion he will be able to transfer to his new show, we should expect to hear more music on Radio 1 before 10am. This may be good news for those who complained for 10 years that Moyles played too little, although one can't help but feel that many of the station's more seasoned critics will spend three hours confronted by the realities of the Radio 1 playlist in 2012 and beg for a return to Carpark Catchphrase. Either that or, like Moyles himself, they'll take the hint and move on to pastures new.

Hip or miss: how Radio 1 has tried to reinvent itself

Emma Freud's lunchtime show (1994-95) The sudden switch from Jakki Brambles to Emma Freud gave listeners the lunchtime radio show equivalent of the bends. Verdict: failure

Mark & Lard at breakfast (1997) The Shirehorses album remains perplexingly amusing, but their breakfast show appointment was a silly idea from any angle. Verdict: failure

Annie Mac takes over from Pete Tong (2011-present) Weekends continue to land at 7pm on a Friday, but with added eclecticism, charisma and big hair. Verdict: success

Hackney Weekend (2012) Laying the old-fashioned Radio 1 Roadshow to rest for ever, the distant echo of Smiley Miley's Mileage Game fading to nothingness. Verdict: success